Mark Gasnier, Jamie Soward and Kirk Reynoldson scored for the Dragons but could not prevent a loss that is sure to put more pressure on Dragons coach Nathan Brown.

The Tigers opened the scoring in the seventh minute when Fulton pounced on a John Morris grubber kick but the Dragons hit back through Gasnier in the 15th when he barged past three defenders to cross out wide.

Dragons fullback Josh Morris dropped the ball cold from the restart, and the Tigers made them pay with Lawrence striding over out wide.

The Tigers then extended their lead in the 23rd minute when Farah made a trademark scoot from dummy half and crossed under the posts.

Moltzen, in his NRL debut, gave the Tigers a handy lead in the 50th minute after getting on the end of a clever Farah grubber kick.

But Soward hit back five minutes later, slicing through the defensive line to score under the posts for the Dragons.

Rangi Chase put Reynoldson through with 11 minutes on the clock but the Dragons ran out of time.

The win was reminiscent of the Tigers' effort in round eight last season, when they went on to beat eventual premiers Melbourne 30-12 despite losing Marshall to a shoulder injury in the fifth minute.